Credit
by embracing
Summary: The Marauder’s have always gotten credit for bringing Lily and James together, but Alice thinks it’s her turn. This is the story of how Lily and James got together, and how a bit of Stickable Mistletoe always helps. LJ [oneshot]


**A/N: **I feel like I haven't posted anything in ages so I whipped something up very quickly and this was the result. I'm thinking of maybe writing it in Lily's perspective, it really depends what reviews I get. So I hope you like it and tell me what you think.

**Disclaimer: **I find these pointless, and they just make me upset, because sadly, I don't even own the vase of flowers beside me.

**Summary: **The Marauder's have always gotten credit for bringing Lily and James together, but Alice thinks it's her turn. This is the story of how Lily and James got together, and how a bit of Stickable Mistletoe always helps. J/L

------

You know, I think I should get all the credit for bringing Lily and James together. The Marauder's do, but really they had nothing to do with it. It was all me, I swear. Frank even says so, and Frank never lies. Except that one time when I asked him if my bum looked too big… lets move on.

It had started when I got together with Frank, so I guess he can take some credit too. It was my first date with him, and Lily was helping me get ready.

'Al-pal?' she asked.

'Hmm,' I said, halfway through putting my lippy on.

'How do you know if you should go out with them?'

I turned around and looked at her quizzically.

'What?' I asked. She was lying on her bed in a pair of black three-quarter tights and a huge fluffy jumper. She had a single piece of her flaming red hair tangled around her finger, and her glasses were starting to slide off her nose. She wanted to stop the habit of playing with her hair, and always asked me to slap her when she did it, but she just looked so cute that I could never bring myself to do it. She pushed her glasses back up and frowned.

'I mean, how do you know whether you should go out with them?'

I walked over and sat beside her.

'You're losing me hon.'

She smiled uncertainly.

'How do you know whether you should go out with the boys that ask you to go out? How did you know that you should go out with Frank?'

I nodded my head, having no idea what she was getting at.

'I guess I just really wanted to, and when he asked me I was so flattered, so I just said yes,' I said surprised. Lily had never looked so vulnerable.

'It's just, you've looked so happy since Frank asked you out, and I want to be all happy and bubbly like you've been.'

I placed my hand on her knee and smiled.

'Maybe you just have to go out there and give it a go. You never know unless you try Lil.'

She took my advice seriously, and over the next couple of months as Frank and my relationship got stronger and stronger, we had many more conversations like that.

I had thought at the time that she was just taking the break up with Geoffrey Hinnigans a bit hard, but she wasn't and I found out on the day of patrol some time in December. It must have been the week before Christmas actually and the school was waiting for Lily to crack.

It was the Marauder's. They were doing what they did best, pranking, and had currently come up with the best prank in the universe according to them. Stickable Mistletoe. Hardy har har. So funny. You would walk under mistletoe and if no one came to kiss you, you would be left with the mistletoe stuck to you until you _were_ kissed. It ended up being a horrible case of exclusion, not funny at all.

I guess everything had just gotten to Lily. She had a crush no one knew about, and he wasn't interesting in her, or so she thought, and that was bringing her down. On top of that, as she walked out of the girls' dormitory she stepped under some mistletoe. Sirius Black thought it would be a hoot to see what would happen if she and James had to stand beside one another for hours with mistletoe stuck on Lily's head. Because we all knew that James still liked Lily, although he hadn't asked her out since sixth year.

Lily was not happy about the mistletoe, but she stuck up her nose and walked out the common room to where James was waiting for her.

I don't know the exact details of what happened on that patrol, all I know is Lily's side of the story. She came running up the stairs angrily, the mistletoe not stuck to her head. As I found out later, she was not angry with James, but more so with herself.

'What happened?' I asked as she came in.

'He… and then I… and then he said… and then I… bloody bungweed!' she collapsed onto the floor sobbing.

'Lil?' I rubbed her back soothingly.

She sat up and clamped her hands around her knees. The look that she gave me was so intense and sincere I never wanted her to look away. Her clear green eyes looked readily into mine.

'I asked him to get rid of the mistletoe,' she said in a whisper.

My eyes widened.

'We went through the whole bloody patrol and he didn't kiss me, so I had to ask him, he must think I'm insufferable!'

'What the hell are you talking about Lil?' I asked as she sprung up and started pacing the room.

'I like him, okay? I think I may bloody even love him. And it's complete bullocks for me to, because he doesn't care.'

I raised my eyebrows, I knew very well that he did care.

'Since when have you liked him?' I asked, curious.

'Since you started going out with Frank.'

'Well, what happened,' I patted the space beside me on my bed.

'He kissed me, and it started getting a bit… heated.' I nodded urging her to continue.

'So then he pulled away suddenly and said that he couldn't. Then he left.'

My eyebrows were now so high I thought they float off my head.

'He said he couldn't?'

'Yes,' she answered. She looked so broken I didn't know what to do.

'Al-pall, I went out and gave it a try, but I don't want to try anymore.'

She was hurt, that's what she was telling me. So I did the only thing I could, and hugged her as hard and as long as possible.

The next day I went and found him.

'You dickweed!' I said as I stormed up to him and his friends by the Great Lake.

'What?' he asked.

'Did you just call him a dickweed?' Sirius said horrified. But I didn't have time for Sirius' humour that day. After all, he was the one who had gotten Lily into this whole mess.

'Right Potter, get up and tell me why the hell you walked away from Lily last night.'

He stood slowly his eyes on the ground. Sirius wolf whistled.

'Got lucky last night did you Prongs?' Sirius said.

I dragged James away from them before I could punch Sirius. I sat him down on a table.

'I thought you loved her!' I exclaimed.

'I do,' he said looking just like Lily had the night before. Broken.

'Then why did you leave her?'

'Because Alice, she doesn't like me all right. She had to ask me to kiss her, and it was like she was absolutely disappointed with herself that she had to.'

I knew that I couldn't tell him that Lily was really disappointed with him, and that she loved the shirt off him, that would be betraying the oath of a friend. So I went with a different strategy.

'You left because you thought she didn't like you.'

He played with his hands, vaguely reminding me of Lily with her hair.

'Yeah, she obviously was only kissing me because she wanted to get rid of that mistletoe, and when I kiss her I want to know that it's because she likes me.'

I smiled at this, he had obviously grown up since he had first started liking her, and wanted to kiss her whether she hated him or not.

'You've really grown up haven't you?'

He smiled.

'Yeah I guess I have.'

'So really, the only reason you didn't kiss her lips off, was because you don't think she likes you back.'

He nodded.

'Okay James, whatever you say.'

I guess for the next bit, the Marauder's could get some credit, but really I came up with the plan. Both Lily and James were to get Stickable Mistletoe on them, and somehow end up locked in a room together. We did this easily, calling a fake prefect meeting that only they knew about. We stuck two pieces of mistletoe on the doorway and then waited for them to come. And come they did, Lily first and then James.

We locked the door and then waited. All we know is when they came out, both mistletoes were missing from their heads. But that's another story that isn't mine to tell. You never know, you may be able to weasel it out of Lily though.

So I guess maybe in a way, no one should get credit for bringing Lily and James together, because they brought themselves together… and I helped.


End file.
